Utah Gears Up For New Efforts to Clear Air

By Duke Dance

Published on July 21, 2014 at 12:38PM

A Utah legislator is bringing back a failed measure at clearing soot form Utah skies. North Salt Lake Republican Becky Edwards proposes that Utah allow its own regulators to set rules stricter than their federal counterparts. She says Utah’s mountains, weather and other factors combine in winter to create an air pollution problem unique to the state. Edwards told a legislative panel Wednesday the state should be free to seek its own solutions to the singular problem. The measure stalled in committee this year, when some legislators questioned how it could effect jobs. Lawmakers passed a roster of other bills to clear pollution, including one to help wood-burning stove owners to convert to cleaner fuel sources.